SBS Volume 22
Arc-climax Alabasta volume — the Pluton/Crocodile/Robin tier of canon-leaks readers expected does not appear here (Oda was guarded mid-arc). What we get instead: Straw-Hat-crew “No-Nationality Men” doctrine (first canonical statement that the crew belongs to no country), historical “wakō” pirate frame, Chopper’s seven-Rumble-Ball forms officially enumerated (Walk / Horn / Guard / Brain / Jumping / Arm / Heavy), Toge Toge Fruit mechanics, and a Miss All Sunday (Robin) bra-color tease that is also Oda flinching from his own joke.
Q&A
Q: Hypnotism title-call gag
D: I’m going to hypnotize you so that you can do it just right this time… One, two, Jankooooooooo! “RAAAAAAAAAAH!! START THE SBS!!”
O: YOU GOT HYPNOTIZED!!
Q: Volume release schedule
D: Would you mind telling me the release date for the next volume?!
O: Huh?! But it’s such a pain. Oh, fine. For the tankōbon people, I’ll tell you the rule for which months are release months so you can mark it on your calendars. One Piece volumes come out in a repeating order that goes, “2 months”, “2 months”, then “3 months”.
Q: Volume 21 errata
O-II: I noticed two mistakes of my own in Volume 21. First of all, the answer to the Culprit Quiz right before Chapter 190. I forgot to include the answer. It’s “Crocus-san”. The other one is the title art for the SBS. I drew Crocus and Laboon for Volume 18, but then I drew them again. I was just under a spell of Crocus Fever in Volume 21.
Q: Straw-Hat-crew nationality / wakō
D: I’ve been wondering about something. What country are Luffy and the others from? In Social Studies class, we learned that a Japanese pirate is called a “wakou”. Is that like a direct interpretation into Japanese? Or is this manga completely unique in that respect?
O: Hmmm. First of all, Luffy’s crew is all “No-Nationality Men”. You can’t say what country they come from. Now about “wakou”. Yes. A long time ago, there were men in Japan called “wakou” who were basically “pirates”. This “Wakou” would get into their boats and raid the Korean peninsula and Chinese mainland. Sometimes in your textbooks, it talks about “expeditionary forces” to Korea, but those were really pirates. They were there to loot and plunder and all that. Yeah, they were bad guys. There’s also another famous group of people around the Seto Inland Sea called “Murakami Suigun (Navy)” who were basically pirates. They have been a big influence on Japan throughout history, though they don’t get widespread recognition. A long time ago, I was researching the differences between “wakou” and “suigun”, but there were “suigun” who were called “wakou”, so I got the impression that there’s no need to even draw a distinction. In short, Japan has had a lot of “pirates”.
Q: Okama-Way speed limit (joke)
D: WHAT’S THE SPEED LIMIT ON THE OKAMA WAY? -By Mr. Two Bon Curry-
O: If you go over 300 Mascaras per hour, you can expect to be Mascarrested.
Q: Mysterious village beyond tunnel
D: THERE WAS A MYSTERIOUS VILLAGE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TUNNEL.
O: Okay, next question.
Q: Bon Kurei ballet critique
D: Bon Kurei! … I don’t like your travesty of the dance! You can’t even do the most basic of basics, the port de bras! And shave your leg hair while you’re at it! -by 10 Years of Ballet Experience-
Mr. 2 (called on stage): NOOOOOOO WAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!! If I shave my legs-!! I am nothing!!! Moi = Leg Hair, understand?! … I have had 20 years of Okama Kenpo!!
Q: Why Vivi pulls Usopp’s nose
D: Why does Vivi always pull on Usopp’s nose?
O: Let’s say there’s a “saucepan” right here. Now, where would you hold the saucepan? You hold it on the long thin part that sticks out, right? He’s a very portable person. You know. Kind of a… one-size-fits-all type of deal.
Chapter 201, Page 126
No questions, just a little game made by a reader.
Q: Pandaman residence (mythic running gag)
D: Pandaman!! It’s Pandaman!! I found Pandaman running away!! W, where does Pandaman live??
O: Pandaman’s residence. I’ve only heard the rumors. Some say he’s a pretty big-shot kinda guy. On a certain island, that is. There’s a reason why he’s chased around, which is why he appears running in a lot of different places… I can’t tell you too much, or they’ll come to get me too…
Q: Chopper Rumble Ball — official 7 forms canonization
D: When Chopper eats the Rumble Ball, he can use seven different forms. Yet, he has more than seven. Why is that?
O: That’s incorrect. Look, there ARE seven. No more.
The seven forms:
- Beast Form: Walk Point, Horn Point, Guard Point
- Human/Beast: Brain Point, Jumping Point, Arm Point
- Human Form: Heavy Point
His normal “beast form” is Walk Point. His “human/beast form” is Brain Point. And his “human form” is Heavy Point. The Rumble Ball is a pill that basically adds four new forms for him to use.
Q: 8th-grade Megu-chan ink-spill
D: 8th grade Megu-chan has a “5” in art class, and she wants to be a manga artist, so… PLOP (ink spilling)… Oops, sorry! I’ll be leaving now!!
O: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!! HEY!!! GET BACK HERE!!! … WAIT… AT LEAST… USE SOME WHITE-OUT TO FIX IT…
Q: Moving Crab steering
D: In Volume 19, you’ll see that, in order to get the Moving Crab to run, Chopper seems to be pulling the sides of its mouth.
O: The hard-to-master skill of manipulating a Moving Crab is to fully expose his right gums when you want to go right, and fully expose his left gums when you want to go left. In professional jargon, these are known as “right grin” and “left grin”. When you want to go slowly, you have to use the “right half-grin” and “left half-grin” (also known as “right smirk” and “left smirk”). Also, if someone on board happens to tell a really bad joke, the Moving Crab’s face will start twitching and you will be unable to control its speed.
Q: “Ran” in gakuran
D: WHAT DOES THE “RAN” IN “GAKURAN” MEAN?
O: SHIRAN (I don’t know). Huh?!… shiRAN? maybe… that “ran”… nah. Maybe… ra… ranou (egg yolk)… that… “ran”…oh!! Ranpaku (egg white)!! How’s that?!! (Note: corrected in Vol. 23 SBS — actually from “randa”, Edo-period term for Western clothes.)
Q: Miss Merry Christmas “Hyu” SFX is a fish
D: On the first panel of page 174, Volume 20, the scene where Miss Merry Christmas digs herself into the ground. It says “Hyu…”, but the horizontal line is a fish.
O: Because it’s the Mole Tempo “Mogugyo” (Gyo can mean fish in Japanese). Try reading it aloud: (1) raise your eyebrows as far up as you possibly can. (2) look as straight up as possible without moving your face. (3) extend your lower jaw. Ready, set… “HYU…”
Q: Nami / Miss All Sunday underwear color (Oda flinches)
D: Why is it that when Nami and Miss All Sunday wear miniskirts and move around a LOT, you never see inside their skirts (panties)? What color are their panties? Please tell me.
O: That’s a dirty old man question… Almost as if you don’t understand you asked anything bad… You really should stop… Though it is possible to imagine… In Volume 14, I’d say her bra looked pretty black… No, really, I should stop… I fear for my life.
Q: SBS-already-over jan-ken-pon gag
D: So, what about next week’s SBS? Come back next week! Jan - Ken - Pon! Ahahahaha. And so, the SBS is over!
O: Dammit!! I thought you were gonna show scissors!!
Notable canon-leaks
- “No-Nationality Men” doctrine — first canonical statement that the Straw Hat Pirates have no country-of-origin as a crew. This frames the crew-as-stateless-entity and pre-loads every later “Luffy is a citizen of nowhere” beat.
- Wakō / Murakami Suigun historical referent — Oda explicitly links his pirate-naming to historical Japanese pirate clans (the wakō raiders + Seto Inland Sea Murakami “Navy” who were called both pirate and naval-force). Frames the Marine ≈ Suigun, Pirate ≈ Wakō dual-naming Oda uses across the series.
- Chopper’s Rumble Ball: exactly 7 forms — canonized roster (Walk / Horn / Guard / Brain / Jumping / Arm / Heavy). Base 3 (Walk = beast, Brain = human/beast, Heavy = human) + 4 Rumble-Ball-only. This is the pre-Monster-Point canonical state. Forward-canon: Chopper’s later 8th form (Monster Point) breaks this 7-form cap.
- Crocus = “trust” callback — re-canonization that the Volume 21 Culprit Quiz answer was “Crocus-san”.
- Miss All Sunday underwear color hint — “her bra looked pretty black” in Vol. 14 (the first canonical color hint for Nico Robin’s wardrobe-tells, which become a recurring fan-mapped detail).